Ex-Clinton aide John Podesta to help Obama salvage his second term, and more Tuesday must-reads

Former Bill Clinton chief of staff John Podesta is joining the White House to help President Barack Obama salvage what’s become a difficult second term, the Washington Post reports. Podesta will formally join for a year, and his portfolio will include the troubled health-care law as well as climate change.

Republicans are writing legislation to prohibit in-flight cell phone calls, the Hill reports. “Let’s face it, airplane cabins are by nature noisy, crowded and confined,” said Rep. Bill Shuster, the Pennsylvania Republican who leads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is the second lawmaker after Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, to offer legislation to keep a ban on in-flight cell phone calls in place.

New sanctions from the U.S. Congress would kill a deal that directs Iran to freeze parts of its nuclear program, that country’s foreign minister told Time magazine. If lawmakers approve new sanctions, “the entire deal is dead. We do not like to negotiate under duress,” Mohammed Javad Zarif said.

Longtime Washington columnist Morton Kondracke thinks the emerging budget deal between Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray is “bad for the country” since the best they could get was avoid immediate disaster. Read more at Roll Call.

“Hikaru Sulu” — that’s George Takei to you non-“Star Trek” fans — is beaming himself into the Hawaii Democrat primary for Senate. Takei declared his support for Rep. Colleen Hanabusa over current Sen. Brian Schatz, who has a strong lead in fundraising and support from the likes of Al Gore and Michael Bloomberg. Read more at Huffington Post.